The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, has reassured Nigerians that the new tax laws expected to take effect on January 1, 2026, will not involve automatic deductions from personal bank accounts
Oyedele gave the assurance during Channels Television’s end-of-year programme, 2025 In Retrospect: Charting a Pathway to 2026, aired on Tuesday. He clarified that the reforms are built around self-declaration of income, not direct debits or bank account monitoring.
“People think that the government will debit their bank accounts from next year, and how they even came up with that, I have no idea. Nobody will debit your account for any amount you transfer. Whether it’s a billion or one thousand naira, at the end of the year, you tell the government yourself,” he said.
According to him, taxpayers will only be required to declare their earnings at the end of the tax year, adding that the framework was designed to be straightforward, transparent, and fair, particularly for individuals with low incomes and small business owners.
“You know what constitutes your income and what doesn’t. So you tell the government: ‘This is my income and here is the tax.’ If you are exempted, you simply declare: ‘This is my income, and I am exempted from tax.’ It is a very simple process that we are simplifying further,” he explained.
Oyedele added that one of the key objectives of the reforms is to end a system that places a heavier burden on vulnerable earners.
“One of the biggest benefits is that if you run a small business as a sole proprietor, an enterprise, or you are just hustling, the system will no longer be regressive, taxing the vulnerable more. We’ve made it progressive,” he said.
Follow Us on Facebook – @LadunLiadi; Instagram – @LadunLiadi; Twitter – @LadunLiadi; Youtube – @LadunLiadiTV for updates
